Tomic stays in contention

TEENAGE tennis talent Bernard Tomic remains in contention at the Caloundra International after winning a cliffhanger at the Caloundra Tennis Centre this afternoon.

Tomic, 18, held his nerve to defeat world number 220 John Millman in a tiebreaker in the third and final set of their second round match.

Hailed as one of Australia’s emerging stars, Tomic was forced to dig deep, eventually winning 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8-6).

Meanwhile, top seed Marinko Matosevic continued his charge through the tournament by beating Bryden Klein in straight sets.

Tomic tests tournament

YOU could forgive Bernard Tomic for feeling the weight of the nation on his shoulders.

With just one player in the world's top 100 (Lleyton Hewitt, 70) Australian men's tennis is crying out for an emerging star to lead a fresh assault on the ATP Tour and the four grand slams.

And with his gifted game, Tomic is widely seen as one of our country's brightest hopes.

But the 18-year-old won't be burdened by the expectations of others.

“No-one can put more pressure on me than myself and that's something I've learned lately,” he said after clinching a grafting 7-6 2-6 6-3 victory over Canadian Peter Polansky in the opening round of the Caloundra International yesterday.

“My job is to play and relax and have fun of course.

“Every now and again you're going to have pressure playing a match and you're going to feel a bit tight but you know if you really want to make it and want to make it big in the sport you've got to relax and have fun.”

But Tomic harbours high hopes and feels the strain of a break point or a tiebreaker, regardless of where and who he is playing – whether it's in a third round showdown with world No.1 Rafael Nadal on centre court at the Australian Open or whether it's a round one clash against the world No.200 on the ATP Challenger circuit.

“You always feel pressure everywhere you play if it comes down to tough points, on critical points you feel it,” Tomic said.

“But I'm more free out here (Caloundra) than I was at the (Australian) Open and its less bigger here than the Australian Open obviously ... it's good for me to play and get my points up and my ranking up and that's what I'm doing.”

The world No.208 was forced to dig deep at the Caloundra Tennis Centre yesterday against Polansky.

The pair traded breaks in a high-quality and lengthy opening set, which was eventually won by Tomic in a tie-breaker when he produced a gutsy drop shot against the wind.

Tomic battled against the hard-hitting Canadian in the second and the frustrated young gun slapped a lethargic backhand into the net to concede the set.

But Tomic collected himself and nabbed an early break in the second game of the deciding set. He held that advantage and finished the job with a crisp backhand down the line.

“I had to go for my shots a little bit in the third and that's why I think I played better, because I played aggressive,” he said.

At times, Tomic seemed to struggle in the hot and windy conditions.

“This heat was all over the place and I was up and down the whole match and couldn't really find my balance,” he said.

“He (Polansky) is definitely a good player, he's beaten a lot of good players in the top 50 but today should have been finished in straight sets for me if I would have concentrated a bit more early in the second.”

And the young gun showed some frustration during the contest.

“It was just the heat. I couldn't control myself for some reason,” he said.

“I'm not normally like this. I'm normally calm but today for some reason I felt like I wanted to explode because of the heat.”

In other results yesterday, Australian Carsten Ball, seeded fourth, and number five seed Grega Zemlja, of Slovakia, were the first players to progress to the third round with straight-sets victories over James Lemke and Philip Bester respectively.

In matches today, seventh seed Tomic faces compatriot John Millman (ranked 220) in the second round after he beat Sam Groth in straight sets.

The Tomic-Millman match will follow a second round match between Australian top seed Marinko Matosevic and compatriot Brydan Klein that is due to commence at 10am.

Italian Paoli Lorenzi, the tournament's third seed, and eight-seeded Australian Matt Ebden are also in action today.